Princess Mononoke 2
by motorola
Summary: I didn't know what to call this, because all I did was start writing it, so if I think of something later-I shall tell you.
1. Chapter One

A/N I don't know why I'm writing this (besides the fact that I love Princess Mononoke),   
and I don't know how it'll turn out like I usually do when I write something,   
but just please read and don't go crazy if it's horrible   
*please keep in mind that I try to refrain from killing the main characters in my   
stories*   
  
Chapter One   
  
This is two years after the great Forest Spirit died and Iron Town was   
destroyed...   
  
Obviously, soon after Iron Town was destroyed, it was built up again,   
after everything died in the forest, they were reborn, and the trees   
sprung up with life, stronger and more plentiful than ever. The Kodma  
were back again, singing the same songs to an empty sky, except now   
they were crying in reverence to the loss of the Forest Spirit....   
Ashitaka rode Yakuul through the mass woodland, looking for San. He   
had been rding for only a few minutes, but was confused at why he   
couldn't find her.   
Stopping at the entrance to the cave at which she lived in, he got off   
Yakuul and couldn't find San, so he looked off the overhanging cliff,   
half expecting to see her riding through the trees on one of her brothers.   
Of course, when you expect to see something you don't usually se it,   
when there is no reason to look, you see something either amazing or   
horrifying.   
Ashitaka had been expecting to see a wolf, but what he saw was at first  
just the widespread Forest, stretching over the horizon, but after watching   
for a few moments, a large explosion echoed in his ears, and the force of it   
being so near by drove him on his back onto the floor of the cave.   
He got up immediately, but even so, Yakuul was at his side.   
"It's okay Yakuul," he said as he mounted, "Come on boy. We've got to find   
out what that was."   
They rode off, and soon came to see San standing at the edge of a large   
clearing, who looked when they came in alarm, but seeing who was   
there, her features softened a little, but there was still a look of hate   
that had been on her face before. The look that he had only seen when  
humans had done something horrible to the Forest.   
Yakuul swiftly carried Ashitaka to where San was standing. He no longer  
cared where San had been at the time, it didn't matter anymore.   
"What happened?" Ashitaka asked the obvious.   
"Humans happened Ashitaka, they're trying to kill the forest again," San was  
deeply furious about the matter.   
"What was it that caused the explosion?" Ashitaka asked her, this time being   
specific, but it wasn't her but the older of her two brothers that answered.  
"We don't know. They have evolved their skills from guns to explosions, ones  
they can make happen anywhere." his face was bleeding. They were probably   
very close to the explosion when it took place.   
"San, it couldn't have been Eboshi, she hasn't thought up any ideas that involve  
any kind of explosions except the rifles she brought with her from China, and she   
doesn't even use those anymore," Ashitaka was sure that a new enemy was afoot,   
and that Lady Eboshi had learned her lesson.   
"It doesn't matter!" San exclaimed, this time taking her eyes off the scene and   
looking directly at Ashitaka, "It's a human, no matter which one! You knew   
that, and even though I still hate that damned woman for killing the Forest   
Spirit, I trust you would have at least told me if she were doing something so  
dastardly. "   
Ashitaka was a little bit ashamed for making her so angry and said, "I'm sorry San,   
did it destroy much?"   
San relaxed and looked back at the charred clearing that had scattered dead bodies  
dotted around. She ignored his apology but answered the question with, "It killed   
much of the forest and its inhabitants, they were thrown everywhere, and we were  
very fortunate to get away without getting the heat of it."   
San's brothers, who had been silent almost the whole time, suddenly began to growl.   
"What is it? I can't smell anything but smoke." San said to her younger broter who   
was standing on her left side.   
He respnded by growling, and San, followed by Ashitaka, looked in the direction that   
the wolves were looking.   
There was a small, lean, cat-like creature moving toward them silently through the   
glade.   
"Stay back!" growled San's elder brother and the creature paused momentarily, but   
started again in their direction.   
Ashitaka unshiethed his sword at the approaching animal and, sensing danger, the   
wildcat pounced and landed right in front of Ashitaka.   
It was larger than a house cat, cream colored fur with light brown splotches on it.   
Delicately, this creature dodged Ashitaka's sword and San's dagger, and jumped   
in front of San's older brother, saying in a glittery voice,   
"Stop your attacks and let me speak..."   
San and Ashitaka, after brief looks at each other, let down their sword and dagger,   
but were ready to attack the cat again if anything happened.   
Again the cat spoke in a silvery, glittery voice that made everything seem okay and  
seemed to hang onto them as morning's dew hangs onto the grass, "To allow me to   
speak is something I thank you for... My name is Cadje. I come from the north west,   
where I lived with the bobcats of that region, and I have traveled far to seek the   
realm of the Spirit of the Forest, and to you I wish to help, for I have heard that this  
Forest is in turmoil."   
"How could you have learned this when we just began to have troubles today?" San   
bristled defensively.   
"I set out when I heard of the death of the great Forest Spirit. I have been looking   
and now I find you to be in more trouble than when I set out."   
"But the Forest Spirit died almost two years ago!" Ashitaka was determined to find  
out everything he could about this creature.   
"Ah! It has been that long already? Then perhaps you could tell me what happened here?"   
Cadje was as determined as they were to get information.   
"Humans came and tried to destroy the Forest with explosions. Many inhabitants of it were  
killed. We, by chance, managed to survive," San's younger brother spoke this time.   
Cadje was quiet for a few moments, looking at the charred remains of what had once been   
part of the Forest. "I know," he said meekly, "for this is what happened to us. Our territories  
were destroyed by humans with the same weapons. I came here not only because of the   
Forest Spirit's death, but to ask of your help.... Our forest is dying, wolf-god, and you are our  
last hope for us to survive...."   
A/N thank you if you read the first chapter, thank you for skimming it if you skimmed it, and  
please, please, PLEASE read it if you didn't. also, review and TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!!!   
tank oos!! 


	2. Chapter Two

A/N okay, well I just wanted to say, a friend asked me why I wrote almost no Princess   
Mononoke fanfics and the answer is this: Princess Mononoke and comedy don't   
mix very well, like Lord of the Rings does with it, and unless I'm writing the book myself  
from my own ideas, I can't usually do much more than comedy.   
  
Chapter 2   
  
"What!!?" San exclaimed, while the wolves beside her glared at the cat-like god, "what   
are you talking about?"   
  
Ashitaka tightened his grip around his sword at his side. He had never heard or seen   
any kind of god other than the wolves and boars, and had never even thought that   
there might be any others. And something about this didn't seem right.   
  
Cadje explained, "Where I come from was free from humans for ages among ages. They   
gave us no warning at all. In the beginning they began to destroy, and the end was that   
very same day, and as I have said before, what is left of the animals that resided in that   
valley are dying, and that is why we look to you for help."   
  
San's wolf-brothers growled loudly, and even without saying anything, all that were   
present knew that momentarily, if ever, neither of them would help this foreign   
creature.   
  
Ashitaka remained silent, knowing that if he spoke, he would not be heard, for he was   
barely even wanted here right now.   
  
"If you need time to think, I would understand, for neither would I help a foreigner at   
first look."   
  
The "god" ran off and went out of sight, the wolves' growls heard behind him.   
  
San jumped up on one of the leaving wolves without a word, but Ashitaka understood   
that he was to go back to Iron Town and leave the wolves to take care of the visit from  
the foreign "god", so once they were out of sight, he jumped on Yakul, who had retreated  
a ways from the sight of the god and the ruin and was grazing peacefully, and rode into   
Iron Town, whose gates were about to be closed.   
  
-------   
  
San looked out over the forest, at the same spot where Ashitaka had gazed earlier, but   
a slightly different sight caught her eyes.   
  
When he had looked, there had been a vast forest full of healthy trees and animals, but the   
sight that filled San's eyes made her heart stop and weep inside.   
  
There was a large, dark whole were there should have been forest; little kodamas and large   
animal carcasses alike were strewn about the ruin, and now with the approaching moonrise,   
she could see some other kodama making their way up the trees maybe in hope that their   
great Forest Spirit would appear as the Nightwalker one last time.   
  
One of San's wolf brothers came up to her and sat down beside her.   
  
"Everything's going wrong," San said quietly, "Everything seems to be dying."   
  
The wolf beside her growled quietly. "That is how life is, San. The world dies and no one seems   
to ever care. All you can do is try to do your best with what you have been given. You understand?"   
  
San looked at her brother, surprised at what he had just said. For a moment when he was speaking,   
she had half expected Moro to be sitting beside her. He had sounded like her in both voice and the   
wisdom sounded exactly like her Mother. She didn't mention it, but they sat at the edge of the over-  
hang for quite some time; listening to the clicking of the Kodama.   
  
--------  
  
Ashitaka sat meditating in the corner of his hut, his mind on the happenings of today. After he had  
left the scene of the explosion, he had gone to Lady Eboshi and asked her if she had heard such   
news. He thought back to the meeting with her, remembering it word for word and action for action   
as if he were back with her while she sat in her garden.   
"Ashitaka. I heard you wanted to see me." Lady Eboshi said as he came near her, "I have no doubt   
that this is about the explosions that happened this afternoon."   
  
"Yes," as usual, Ashitaka didn't have to speak for her to know what he wanted to say.  
  
"Well as you already know, I decided to turn away from trying to destroy the forest long ago. What was   
it- two years?"   
  
"Yes. But do you have any idea about who or what caused it?" Ashitaka pressed her for any information   
he could get.   
  
"Why don't you ask Princess Mononoke? She seems like the type to know everything."   
  
Ashitaka looked at Ebosi with an expressionless face, and as if something drew him away, he walked   
out of her garden without one look back at the nearly clueless Lady Eboshi.   
What had happened? The conversation seemed normal enough.to Ashitaka, but there was something   
he kept missing. He knew it was there, but somehow, for some reason, he couldn't figure out what it was.   
  
While pondering all of this he fell asleep against the wall of his small hut.   
  
-------   
  
A/N do you just happen to hate this short chapter? Don't worry, I will finish the story and not just leave it hanging like I seem to do with all of the stories that I start on my computer from some little bit of idea that pops into my mind.   
Well now I'm babbling, hope you like the chapter and tell me if you do. 


	3. Chapter Three

A/N okay, normally I have everything planned out when I start a story; how it starts, how the moddle of it will go  
and how it will end, but writing about Princesse Mononoke is harder than I had antisipated, and I hope that my story  
is half as good as I had hoped it would be when I started.   
  
Chapter three   
  
  
That night Ashitaka had a dream.  
  
  
"Ashitaka!"   
"Kaiya, what are you doing here? You know it's forbidden!"   
"Do you think I care about that? I came to give you this," Kaiya hands a necklace with a crystal-like dagger  
hanging off it, "so you won't forget your little sister..."   
"Your crystal dagger! Kaiya, I can't take this."   
"Please keep it with you brother to protect you."   
Ashitaka moves to give it back,   
"You must take it with you, please, I want you to have it so you won't... forget."   
Ashitaka momentarily pushes down his mask.   
"Kaiya, you know I could never forget you."   
Ashitaka rides off into the distance on Yakkul and Kaiya watches him go until she can see him no more.   
  
Suddenly Kaiya rushes to the hut of the Wise Woman and before she could object Kaiya says,   
  
"I'm leaving to find Ashitaka. I can't just sit back and relax when I could have saved him!" Kaiya said   
urgently right off.   
  
The old lady who was still crouched behind her mat and stones from which she fortold to Ashitaka that he   
would most likely die from the curse sat up straight and looked at her with something in her eyes that made Kaiya   
not want to disobey her.   
  
"No Kaiya! Don't be foolish and go and watch him die. You are much better off with your people-"   
  
"Ashitaka IS my people! I need to go to him!" Kaiya seemed to be finished but added, "You cannot stop me   
from leaving," and she abruptly left.   
  
"Go where your heart tells you, child, but be careful. I will miss you."   
  
Kaiya left the hut and went to the stables where the elk (where Yakkul had been previously kept) stayed and  
saddled up one named Fiishma.   
  
"Now don't worry, I'll be right back." Kaiya left the stables for supplies she may need on her journey.   
  
The village was empty still, and the silence crept up Kaiya's spine as she walked back to Fiishma.   
  
Fishma woofed, and Kaiya quietly soothed her by rubbing the large elk's nose and talking to her quietly.   
  
"It's okay girl," Kaiya said as she rubbed Fishma's nose, "you're going to be alright."   
  
Again, Fishma woofed in response, and Kaiya, after tying her things to the saddle, putting her bow and   
quiver of arrows on her back, and her sword that was similar to Ashitaka's in its sheath at her belt, she mounted   
Fishma and rode out of the village in the direction that Ashitaka had went.   
  
A searing pain went up Ashitaka's right arm where the scar had once been.   
  
Kaiya was riding, but slightly north of where he was headed.   
  
There were robbers-muggers-all around Kaiya. She picked up her sword and atracked them, and Ashitaka, in his  
sleep, tried to move to help her, but as hard as he ran, the pain in his arm grew more and more and he got more   
and more tired of running and not getting any closer.   
  
He tried to take an arrow off his back.   
  
There were no arrows.   
  
He tried to pick up his sword to hurl at them.   
  
He had no sword in his empty sheath.   
  
He took off the sheath to throw it at them,   
  
but they weren't there.   
  
Kaiya was racing away on Fishma,he din't know where she was she had a bloody gash near her ankle and she   
looked droopy, as if she were about to faint, but in his dream her voice was amplified;   
  
"Brother-Ashitaka, wherever you are, you saved me, help me find you..."   
-------   
And at the exact same time, San, on the other side of the mountain, through the forest, San was having a dream   
herself.   
  
  
San saw her mother and brothers, advancing on two human mates, a small baby in the woman's arms. They   
looked so frightned-and so familiar, that she partially pitied them.   
  
"What are you doing in my forest?!" Moro's booming voice echoed throughout the forest,   
  
Rather than speak, the terrified couple cowered below the large, white wolf god and set their baby on the   
ground in front of them, and the man spoke quietly.   
  
"In reverence for the forest, we offer you our child."   
  
With that the terrified two ran off, and only after they were out of sight, Moro sniffed the bundle with the  
sleeping girl in it.  
  
Her two pups stood beside her, watching her.   
  
At that time there was a shortage of food, but instead of eating the baby, Moro pitied her, and saw beyond her human body.   
  
"I will not eat it," Moro said finally, "When I see this little thing, so helpless and pathetic, I don't know. I just can't..."   
  
One of Moro's pups walked up to the bundle and sniffed it, wondering why this human was so small.   
  
In her sleep, San urged her mother to kill the child, although it wasn't what she really wanted inside.   
  
Moro looked up at the sky and seemed to speak to San's heart as she watched her,   
  
'Maybe by letting you live I am doing you a favor,' Moro thought toward the sky, 'The little changeling who will save the forest one day...'   
  
Aloud Moro announced to her pups, "San... The human who is not. The wolf who is not, but will be brought up as."   
  
With that, Moro picked up the bundle in her teeth and walked away, the pups trailing closely behind, until   
they got to the small cave at the top of the cliff overhanging the forest.   
  
Suddenly, as San watched all of this, she began to be confused. Moro had said 'the human who is not,' but she had also said 'the wolf who is not.'   
  
So what was that supposed to mean? 'To be brought up as?'   
  
Now Moro was lying half in the Sacred Pool, San's two wolf brothers on each side of her, and Okkotonushi as   
a daemon walking towards her, San's feet flailing out of the red worm-like creatures that had ensnared him.   
  
He walked up to Moro and screamed in her face, who said, "Look at you. You can't even speak."   
  
Moro bit at the worms and said, "Give me back my daughter! Daemon!"   
  
Soon Sashi Gimi, stepped out on the lake, and Eboshi aimed.   
  
Many things happened at once. First, Okkotonushi, as soon as he saw Sashi Gimi, his daemon worms turned into a black slime, Moro moved slighly away from him and said, "Ashitaka, can you save the girl you love?" which awakens him and brings him to the surface, just as Eboshi fires and hits Sashi Gimi across the face.   
  
The Forest god's feet begin to sink and Ashitaka hollers, "Eboshi! Your enemy is not the Forest Spirit!" and he ran to free San from the black goo in Moro's jaws.   
  
"San! Don't die!" Ashitaka said urgently as he pulled her into the Sacred Pool.   
  
Sashi Gimi walked calmly toward Okkotonushi and, after touching his nose, the boar god died, and only moments after, Moro fell into a heap to.   
  
The protector of Sashi Gimi, Moro, had died, and peace had finally come to her.   
  
Sashi Gimi looked up to the moon and began to change into the nightwalker, and Ashitaka with a now concious San, popped though the surface of the lake, and seeing Eboshi now aiming at the transfiguring Forest God, Ashitaka, still holding San in his arms, goes nearer to Eboshi.   
  
"Eboshi!" He said as he pulled his sword out of its hilt and threw it at Lady Eboshi's gun, hitting it right through the side, but she just smiled and preceeded in trying to shoot the god again, who turned around and plants began to grow on her gun.   
  
She proceeded in trying to hack them off with her free hand. "You will die!"   
  
A gunfire shot echoed through the forest. She had gotten enough of the plant off for the fire to reach the pellet and there. The Forest Spirit, Sashi Gimi, was dead.   
  
------   
  
Both San and Ashitaka awoke at the exact same time, breathing heavily.   
  
------   
  
"What is it San?" one of her brothers asked, who had awoken by her gasps.   
  
She was silent for a moment, trying to recollect her memory.   
  
"Does my name mean anything?" San asked, looking persistantly at her brother.   
  
He looked at her oddly, "Why do you ask me?"   
  
"You were there. Weren't you?" San anxiously said to him, "The day mother found those plunderers in the forest."   
  
He looked out at the forest, and said, "Yes San. I was."   
  
San wasn't going to let him try to avoid the question, "So what does my name mean? Why am I called San?"   
  
"San means, the child of the forest. Her exact words as I remember were, 'the human who is not. The wolf who is not-'   
  
"'-but will be brought up as.'" San sat back and ignored his peculiar look, "thank you."   
  
------   
  
And Ashitaka and San fell asleep again at the same time, on other sides of the forest and the mountain, and when they awoke, San had no recollection of her talk with her brother and neither of them remembered their dream.... 


	4. Chapter Four

A/N I'm sorry it takes so long to put up each chapter but I have a lot going on. Hopefully I'll be able to write more this week, as I have no school :)   
  
Chapter Four   
Remember your mother's words  
San was riding on her brother through the forest, toward the 'Sacred Pool,' for exactly two years ago that night, her mother and the guardian of the forest, Moro, had died.   
  
No remains of her were found; legends of the Forest Spirit and even Moro had begun to circulate among the people of Iron Town and neighboring villages, about where their bodies were. Some said that they were brought up to heaven, body and soul, but others, who believed that humans were superior to everyone and everything, said that for not letting them take down the forest, beleived that they were taken into hell, where, because of what they did, were tortured in body and soul.   
  
And others seemed to believe they haunted the night, planning with the living; wolves, beasts and Princesse Mononoke, about how to destroy the humans once and for all.   
  
But there were only a select few that could have the heart to grasp the truth.   
  
As San came to the Pool, as San reached the spot that her mother's body had laid, where the Forest Spirit had controled one last life's dying breath, her mind was suddenly filled of memories of Moro and she had an urge to cry.   
  
She fought the tears back though, even though her heart was tearing itself apart, thinking, Wolves don't cry, over and over.  
  
San jumped down from the large white wolf's back, and stared at the silent waters.   
  
"It really isn't sacred any more," San said softly, "I've noticed it before, but after Shishi Gami's head was cut off, it wasn't magical. Just a normal silent pond."   
  
The younger of her two brothers nuzzled her, and she felt like a small pup again.   
  
"Wherever she is," the elder wolf said, "she wouldn't want you to worry about either of them."   
  
San knew now that they were trying very hard to be gentle, which was definitly against their nature, for her sake, which made her temper silently flare up.  
  
She turned away from the scene, making her heart hurt more.   
  
"Let's go," she said abruptly.   
  
San had never known what love was, it was just something that was there. As soon as she had awakened after being carried by a daemon Okkotonushi, she had seen Moro dead. And that hurt her more than she had ever been hurt before, and it was from the inside out.   
  
The pain had gradually lessoned, but she never told anyone about it, not even her brothers, although they saw that she suffered, and even Ashitaka, who had been with her through it all, no. She couldn't tell anyone.   
  
I am a wolf, she thought as she always did, and wolves aren't weak.   
  
  
  
Hii-Sama opened her eyes after watching the scene. She was alone in her small hut, her small, old body crouched in the middle of the room, her legs folded as they always were.   
  
The old woman looked at the wooden frame that served as a doorway to the hut, remembering the night that their prince left.   
  
"Princesse Mononoke. I know you are hurt, but remember your mother's words. She will need you someday soon..."   
There was a nagging in the back of San's mind.   
  
"Remember your mother's words...."   
  
She didn't know what she was trying to think, and she didn't understand at all what it meant.   
  
"She will need you someday soon...."   
  
As she neared the cave, instead of going inside she climbed up to the top of it where Moro had usually lay and looked up at the moon.   
  
"Remember your mother's words. She will need you someday soon."   
  
"What do you want?" she asked herself, not loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. Her brothers had gone for now, but she didn't want anyone to hear.   
  
"Princesse Mononoke. I know you are hurt, but remember you mother's words. She will need you someday soon."   
  
San still didn't understand what was happening, but was too tired to wear her brain out any longer, so she curled up on top of the cave and fell asleep.   
A/N I know it was kind of boring, but I am not exactly the best writer in the world. Well anyway, tell me what you think. (just please don't flame me- thank you) 


	5. Chapter Five

A/N I feel really bad that it took me so long to put this chapter up, but I hope you enjoy!   
  
Chapter Five   
  
Where's Ashitaka?  
  
(Now I think that I'll actually get back to the plot, although the past chapters will come into play, eventually)   
  
San was alone. The younger of her two brothers had left to the place where Cadje had supposedly come from, to see what was going on, and the other had left early in the morning, to hunt.   
  
She immediately got up and went to a small stream that was near the cave for a drink.   
  
Something was wrong. She splashed water on her face and looked around. The smell of blood came to her nose, and something else, a smell that brought hatred to her.   
  
"Humans." She mused aloud, but quietly.  
  
San ran to the direction of the smell, quickly directing her feet on the quietest path and let her nose guide her. As the smell of human grew stronger, she pulled out her dagger.   
  
She stopped behind a bush through which she could see a girl, not too much younger than her, with brown hair like Ashitaka's, sitting under a tree, and slightly rocking back and forth as she bound up her bleeding arm.   
  
San almost felt sorry for this child, but that feeling passed away quickly as her temper again flared.   
  
It's a trap, San thought with hatred, Humans will do anything to get at the forest.   
  
The girl suddenly looked up, looked directly at where San was crouched, and San leapt up, landing right in front of the girl.  
  
"What are you doing in this forest?!" San pounced the question on her threateningly, the knife she had thrust very close to the girl's face.   
  
The girl now looked frightened, but barely faltered, "Please," she begged fervently, "please tell me where I can find Ashitaka, I must find him, please!"   
  
San's eye's narrowed at this small human, "I do not know any Ashitaka. Leave now, and if you ever come into this forest again, I will kill you."   
  
The girl limped off as quickly as she could, and San noticed her leg was bandaged as well.   
  
After seeing that the human had left, San went home, to see if her brother had returned yet, and he had. He was sleeping on the ledge overhanging the forest, seeming content with a full stomach, but lifted his head, alert when she came.  
  
San seemed uneasy as she nibbled some of the meat that was sitting on the floor beside her brother, and he noticed her uncalmness.   
  
"What is it San?" the wolf asked her in his tongue.  
  
San seemed taken slightly aback but answered him, "What is what?!"   
  
The wolf looked gently at her and if he were human she would have seen a small smile behind his great wolf figure. "You are nervous. There is tension in everything you are doing and you are sitting quite alert. And if I may ask you again, what is it?"  
  
"I told you, it's nothing," San mumbled but with a look from her brother she suddenly jumped up, taking her brother by surprise and said in an urgent tone, "I must go to Tatara-Ba! I have got to find Ashitaka!"   
  
Her wolf brother stood slowly and stretched.   
  
"Is there any reason why you won't tell me what's going on?" he asked.  
  
  
  
San gave him an exasperated look.   
  
"I'll explain it all to you when there is time!"   
  
"When is there time for anything? Never put something off till tomorrow; it may never come." He quoted from what Moro had told him when he was a pup.   
  
San closed her eyes and hung her head momentarily then said, "If there won't be any tomorrow, then I have to get to Tatara-Ba, now!"   
  
With that, San jumped to the grass below and ran as fast as her legs would hold her toward Tatara-Ba.   
  
She didn't run alone for long, the wolf who all her life had been her brother ran beside her, matching her pace.  
  
As the forest scenery flew by, he said, "Come on now, get on! As you said before, if there isn't going to be a tomorrow, we may as well hurry."   
  
San grabbed the fur on his back and jumped on, and immediately felt a sudden burst of speed.   
  
Soon they reached the mighty gates of Tatara-Ba, which were closed when San on the large white wolf were first seen, and someone looked down at San,  
  
"What do you want wolf-girl?" called the feminine voice from the ridge above the gate.  
  
San looked up boldly, and her brother growled directions to her from behind his clenched teeth.  
  
A moment or so later, San spoke up.   
  
"Where is Ashitaka?" was all that she said.  
  
The woman turned around for a second, conversing quietly to someone behind her, but San made it out.   
  
"Who is it Toki? Is it the wolf-girl?"   
  
"Yes milady, and she has brought a wolf along as well."   
  
"Well, what is it she wants?"   
  
"....She wants to see Ashitaka."   
  
"....Tell Gonza to come here. I must speak to this wolf-girl by my self."   
  
"Yes ma'am."   
  
It was a few moments before San saw Lady Eboshi appear, and when she did, she felt a rush of adrenalin and an urge to kill.   
  
"Hello princess. We finally meet again." Eboshi said.   
  
San ignored Eboshi's comment and repeated, "Where is Ashitaka?"   
  
Lady Eboshi looked at her long and hard.   
  
"He isn't here." she said simply, "He left this morning in haste, saying something about needing to go home immediately."   
  
San conversed with her brother under her breath momentarily.   
  
"Is she telling the truth?"   
  
"I am not the one to know. She seems to be if that helps you."   
  
Aloud she said to the mistress of Tatara-Ba, "In which direction did he go?"   
  
"Why do you care wolf-girl?.... If you must know, he headed toward the east."   
  
And with that, Lady Eboshi walked back into the village, Gonza watching San until she was safe, and after she had left, San jumped back onto the wolf's back and headed back to the forest to figure out what they would do.   
  
**********   
  
After a long discussion between her brothers and other gods of the forest, they decided that the younger wolf-god, who was better at tracking and a faster runner, would take San to find Ashitaka, while her eldest brother, who was as strong as Moro was during her time, would stay and defend the forest from anything that may come, or as San said,   
  
"We don't know that it isn't a trick just to lure us out of the forest, that damned gun-woman with all of her riflemen and soldiers could be just waiting for an opportunity with no gods involved."  
  
**********   
  
"So, what did you decide?" San asked the younger wolf when he entered the cave.  
  
"We leave tomorrow morning. Get your rest." 


	6. Chapter Six

** A/N I have to ask all of my faithful readers- will you try to think up a name for this fic? I need a new one that will be better and will match the story so if any of you give me one that I like enough to use (I know this isn't much tho) I will obviously use it and you will be recognized in the next chapter and on my site (look at my URL thingymajigger)   
  
Chapter 6   
Journeys to the Emishi village   
  
(early that morning...)  
  
"Come on Yakkul, we're going home," Ashitaka said to the red elk as he led him from the stables.   
  
Ever since Ashitaka had the dream about Kaiya, he was determined to go back, and now was sure that he had to go.   
  
What had really pushed him forward was a constant nagging of danger in the back of his mind, seeming to tell him that he absolutely had to go back.   
  
He came up to the gate and the one of the guards sarcastically said, "are you here to open the gate with one hand again? I'd love to marvel at that one once more."  
  
"Lady Eboshi has commanded you let me out. I don't want to cause trouble, but I'm in a hurry."   
  
Ashitaka's reply took the snicker off the arrogant guard's face as he called over a few of the men walking down the dusty street to open the gate.  
  
"Isn't it a bit _early_ to open it?" one of the men protested, "There's no reason since nobody's up!"   
  
"Yeah!" another chimed in, "Why can't you open it _ yourself_?"   
  
The guard squinted his eyes, "Lady Eboshi's orders! Get moving or I'll report you!"  
  
With their respect and slight fear of the Mistress of Tatara Ba, they immediately went to work with the door, which, after about ten minutes, they had open. **

"That will be fine," one of the guards informed the men who went away quickly as soon as they finished their job. 

Ashitaka bowed to the guards, and before he got on him, Yakkul. 

"Come on boy," he said as he nudged Yakkul to go, "Let's go home." 

The way was long, and Ashitaka longed for the comfort of another human being to talk to, but as always, every time he thought maybe he wasn't alone, all that was there was Yakkul, wuffing and carrying on a quick, steady pace. 

The next morning, as Ashitaka began to feel the familiar surroundings of home, something wasn't right. 

He passed an abandoned watchtower and wondered nervously why it was empty; someone always watched over their precious village. 

Soon after he came to the wreckage of the gateway to the town, and found it in shambles, and as was the town. Burned down and chopped up huts were in place of most of the old beautiful ones, and blood stained the ground. 

Ashitaka jumped off of Yakkul and ran into the town; his mind coming to but one conclusion; 

The Emishi had been defeated. He was the last one alive. 

********* 

As she had been informed, San left to find Ashitaka, riding through the forest on her brother's back early the next morning. 

"Eboshi said that he told her he was going home, and that he headed west yesterday," San told the white wolf, "Do you think you could find him with only that?" 

He snorted (if you would call it that) and answered, "San, you've known me all your life. You know that I could find him even if he had left a week ago and I was without Eboshi's directions." 

San made a small smile before pulling her mask over her eyes. 

**********

Ashitaka ran from house to house looking for anyone alive in the charred ruins, but before he could get far, men, young and old ran out as if they were mad from a few of the houses that were still standing that Ashitaka hadn't looked yet. 

Ashitaka was momentarily shocked, but relaxed immediately. Even though they positioned themselves around Ashitaka, ready to attack on command, Ashitaka recognized every single one of them; from Jousan the old watcher to Kamakura the young stable boy. 

Ashitaka turned toward Jousan and bowed, who looked at him as if he were one of the emperor's samurai, but soon recognized him and dropped the long sword he held, mesmerized. 

"Ashitaka?" he said, "I-i-is it really you boy?" 

The others in the circle either put their weapons down or sheathed them, but they all gazed in awe at their prince who had finally returned, and they exchanged greetings. 

Even so, Ashitaka didn't stay long, he went up to the Oracle's partly destroyed hut, and what he saw in there was not what he left that one night after he was cursed. 

Part of the hut had been burned down; and no longer did Hii-san sit in the middle of the floor, she laid on a mat on the far side of the room, and besides that, the room was forsaken, empty. 

Ashitaka walked toward the old woman but she opened her eyes when he came to the middle of the room, and she sat up, which made him stop. 

"There you are boy, sit down," she sad sternly, in appearance she seemed to have grown much older since he last saw her, but her boldness had not changed, "what took you so long? Did you think you could so easily forget about us?" 

Ashitaka, who had sat down cross-legged when she told him to, bowed deeply before saying, "I am sorry Oracle." 

"Oh don't get so formal with me," she informed him, "you are no longer a boy. You have come a long way and there is no time to entrance me with flattery." 

When Ashitaka made no reply she said, "Now, now, now. You don't think that you are here for nothing now do you? Now speak up. I have been hard to hear-and see lately so be kind to me, and be thorough, it isn't a good story without the details." 

Ashitaka, began his story, at the night that he left.... 

(a few hours later, after the noontime meal was over, Ashitaka got to the part about his dream, he started) 

"Wait!" he said, "I forgot to ask you what I came here for- what happened to Kaiya after I left?" 

Hii-san hung her head and sighed, "I imagined you'd get to that question sooner or later.... well you see, almost as soon as you left, she came up to me and said she was going after you, and left later that night. I tried to stop her, but she said she had to go with you." 

Ashitaka's face was sad as he looked out of the large hole that used to be a wall. 

"And I am just guessing now, but unless I don't know what I'm saying, but by the look on your face, she never found you." 

"No...she didn't-" 

Ashitaka's sentence was interrupted by a battle cry from outside.

Ashitaka's head shot up as he recognized the yell, "San." 

He got up and ran out of the hut. 

**********

San and her brother had ridden quickly and had found the abandoned watchtower only a few hours after Ashitaka had, and San told her brother to stop, and she got off. 

"I can find my way from here," San announced as she turned to face the wolf. 

Her brother responded, "Good. I'm not quite sure how well these people could handle a large wolf." 

"What will you do while I'm in there?" 

He sniffed the air. 

"Yes. just as I thought. There are gods in these mountains. I will find out all I can about this area while you can go in and see what's going on." 

He ran off into the trees and San went in the direction of Yakkul's (who's was the strongest) scent. 

After finding the red elk, he told her that Ashitaka had gone to Hii-san, whose hut was the one farthest away and highest up, and had been there for some time. 

"Thank you Yakkul," San said and itched him affectionately under his chin, "I'll be back." 

She snuck silently through the wreckage, wondering why Ashitaka was so keen to come here. 

But she now smelt human, and let out a war cry as the young Emishi boy lunged on her, but his blow was intercepted by her dagger. 

The boy backed up and stood nervously holding his sword, which was amazingly like Ashitaka's, and breathed heavily, and San took off her mask, an annoyed face had been hiding behind it, and let her knife by her side. 

_'Gods, that girl's beautiful,' _ he thought as he trembled and nearly dropped his sword, _'she's the most amazing person in the world.'_

Before San could say anything, Ashitaka ran in front of her, the fact that she was here surprised him, but he didn't have time to wonder. 

The rest of the men ran out again, this time to protect Ashitaka and not to scare him away. 

They rounded the three of them, waiting for his orders, but they didn't come. 

Jousan was the first one to speak. "Ashitaka, should we attack?" 

Ashitaka turned to San, just as an arrow snapped and shot her in the back, causing her to fall over into Ashitaka's arms. 

One of the older men's trembling fingers had slipped from the string holding the arrow, hitting her squarely in the center of her back. 

"San? San!" Ashitaka went to his knees and pulled the lone arrow from her flesh, causing blood to flow freely. He immediately ripped cloth from his sleeve, and pressed it against the wound, but the blood flow did not stop. 

"Dammit!" Ashitaka cried as the blood soaked through. 

The boy who had first attacked San walked toward Ashitaka and spoke to his old friend. 

"Ashitaka. We must get her to the Oracle or she will die!" 

Ashitaka's head popped up and he immediately picked up San, carrying her to the Oracles hut. 

  
  
A/N- I hope you enjoyed this long chapter (heehee) that leaves you in total and complete suspense! 

A/N 2- yay! the uploady thingymajigger is working again!! 


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